Mozambique: PGR calls on justice bodies to ensure recovery of assets

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Mozambique: PGR calls on justice bodies to ensure recovery of assets

12:42 CAT | 26 Nov 2025

Photo: AIM

The Mozambican Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) calls on the justice bodies must ensure the recovery of assets in cases of embezzlement of public funds and organized and transnational crime because “it is not enough to simply deprive individuals involved in criminal activities.”

According Amabélia Chuquela, head of the Specialized Department for Criminal Matters at the PGR, who was speaking on Tuesday, in Maputo, during the Seminar on Asset Management under the motto: “How Inter-Institutional Coordination Can Contribute to Increasing Effectiveness in Asset Recovery and Management”, the authorities are developing actions to identify, track, seize and recover assets, instruments, products and proceeds of any nature related to the practice of illegal activity inside and outside the country.

“It is necessary to demonstrate that crime does not pay, attacking its fundamental driving force, namely the proceeds of crime and assets. It is necessary that the initial investigation and seizure be efficient, timely and rigorous so that the Asset Recovery Office (GGA) achieves the desired success,” she said.

Chuquela also said that confiscated assets must be preserved and reverted to the State before they are dissipated and lose economic viability.

For her turn, Gracinda Muiambo, presiding judge of the Maputo City Judicial Court, said that the country is experiencing challenging times, where the illegal economy and criminal networks represent a threat to the integrity of the national financial system, as well as security, political stability and sustainable development.

“The recovery and management of assets, especially those originating from illegal activities, requires an integrated and collaborative approach among all institutions that make up the country’s judicial apparatus,” he said.

She explained that collaboration between institutions is key to creating robust and efficient systems.

António De Vivo, head of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said that Mozambique is positioning itself as a regional pioneer in on the African continent in implementing measures aimed at recovering assets.

“The current phase aims to consolidate the results achieved in the first phase and overcome weaknesses, namely the full application of the penal code in the legal sectors and the asset recovery law, financial and asset investigation techniques, and the standardization of procedural practices among magistrates and other justice operators”, he said.

Source: AIM